Organisers were trying to enter the Guinness Book of World Records by producing a 1,500 metre-long sandwich containing 1,000kg of ostrich meat. More than 1,000 cooks laboured from early morning in Tehran’s Mellat park to assemble the monster sandwich.

But as soon as their task was completed, popular enthusiasm overwhelmed the need for attention to detail as crowds began devouring the snack before its measurements could be verified…

“We still think the sandwich will be recorded in the Guinness book because of all the evidence and video footage that we will send them,” Parvin Shariati, a spokesperson for the organisers, told Reuters.

Never have eaten domesticated ostrich. Like most flightless birds, the wild examples are tough as leather.